


Panic at the dishrack

by Planet_Hunter



Series: One Touch [1]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Dishwashing happens, Domestic Fluff with a capital 'F', F/F, I’m new here, Mutual Pining, be nice, first fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 02:57:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17696333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Planet_Hunter/pseuds/Planet_Hunter
Summary: Canon adjacent - Season 1: Waverly and Nicole are only just getting to know each other. They're doing the dishes in the station break room. It's cramped in there!





	Panic at the dishrack

The Purgatory Police Department’s employee break room was no place for an argument. It was cramped, dingy and smelled of encrusted cheese on non-microwavable plastics. Overseeing a probably doomed effort to clean up the place, Officer Nicole Haught leaned against the kitchenette sink pointing a fresh dishcloth at the object of her feigned ire, Waverly Earp.

“No, you should always wash the glasses first. They can drip dry in the rack while you wash more heinously filthy plates and stuff. If you don’t then you’re washing glasses in stinky cheese and doughnut water which is just gross. And don’t get me started on using the tea towels to dry glasses! I hate tea-towel-fluff covered glasses!” Nicole declared.

Waverly grabbed the cloth from Nicole’s hands just so she could flick her with it before throwing it back in her face in mock exasperation. “Are you accusing my tea towels of being overly fluffy Officer Haught?”

Nicole tried to dodge the flick but still felt a sharp clip to her knee and utterly failed to catch the cloth as it assaulted her face before falling to the floor. “Yes! Don’t think I didn’t notice that since you started consulting for Black Badge, all of a sudden the station actually has tea towels. Nice ones. That are colour coordinated. And clean! But all tea towels are too fluffy to dry glasses straight from the sink. It’s like, science or something.” 

As Nicole bent to collect the cloth, Waverly bowed her head and turned away. No one else had noticed that she often took it upon herself to ensure the break room was clean and tidy. There was an old sign above the sink that read ‘I am not your Mom. Do your own dishes’ but it was clear that no one really cared too much for the passive aggressive approach to break room cleanliness. Waverly didn’t mind doing it, especially when she was spending so much of her time with Black Badge doing nothing much more than coffee and doughnut runs. Cleaning up made her feel useful and assuaged a little guilt for the after effects of ‘Hurricane Wynonna™’ on the station’s sense of order. It felt good that her work had been noticed and appreciated by Purgatory’s newest police officer. “ _Newest and sexiest… Shit. Where did that thought come from_?” 

“Nuh uh…” Waverly refuted. “You need to clean, dry and tidy away the bigger items first to make room for the delicates. Especially in this broom cupboard Nedley’s assigned to you all as a break-room. Once that’s done, then you can change the water if you have to and there’s no danger to cups, mugs, glasses, vases, or family heirlooms being smashed by a cascade of woks, bread boards and cast iron skillets. It’s the safest way to do dishes. You’re a Police Officer! You should be all about the safety!” Waverly smirked at Nicole, thinking the argument to be a slum-dunk.

Nicole raised an eyebrow. “Speaking from experience there Waves? The station has very little need for a wok you know. Besides, your technique assumes you don’t have a partner to share your burden with you. You don’t have to manage this on your own Waves. I’ve got your back. I’ll always be here to help you.”

Nicole’s tone changed a little with last sentence, an amused half laugh turned into something a bit quieter, more introspective perhaps, which was not lost on Waverly. She knew Nicole had only recently learned that Waverly had grown up largely on her own. The topic was still a sore one for her even though her sister Wynonna looked set to stay now she had finally returned to Purgatory. Waverly blushed slightly as she mulled over Nicole’s words. She somehow had no doubt that Nicole meant every word, far beyond simple banter over washing dishes. 

“But in saying that, I’m just gonna go…” Nicole paused as she pointed towards the only door to the room. She watched Waverly’s face as her eyes widened, an exasperated huff building in her suddenly slack jaw, arms quickly crossing at her chest. Amused, Nicole’s eyes crinkled slightly, her head tilting at the frankly adorable sight of ‘slightly miffed Waverly’ and she jumped in before Waverly could verbally express herself, or throw more tea towels.

“...and collect up any other cups and plates from around the desks. I’ll be right back”

“You shouldn’t say that you know” Waverly retorted. “Rule three of horror shows - never say you’ll be right back” she called out to Nicole’s retreating form.

“Good thing the only horror show here is Wynonna’s chronic overuse of the Urban Dictionary and that mountain of dishes right?” 

As Nicole disappeared from view Waverly let out a nervous breath. “ _If only you knew_ ” she thought. Pushing all thoughts of the real-life horror her family had lived though, was still living through today, Waverly was struck by how good she felt. “ _How can a conversation about the merits of tea towels and correct washing order be the highlight of my day?_ ” she wondered, struck by the simple domesticity of it, before getting to work.

With the few glasses and cups duly washed and drying on the rack, Waverly turned to the dish mountain covered in snowy doughnut dust and avalanches of food scraps. Nicole returned with a few extra plates from desks around the bullpen and Nicole smiled as she noticed Waverly had acquiesced and used her technique. They moved around each other carefully in the tight confines of the room, conversation naturally muting slightly as they concentrated on their tasks. Waverly washing and Nicole taking each larger item to dry and return to its cupboard.

Suddenly, Waverly felt locked in place. Her body stilled with a breath half inhaled, eyes half-lidded. “ _She’s touching me_ ” the only thought her brain could recall and process coherently from her internal dictionary and now looped in endless, whispered playback. 

“ _She’s touching me, she’s touching me, she’s touching me, she’s touching me..._ ” 

The thought held a tone of incredulity. She could feel the light pressure of Nicole’s hand on her hip, incongruously dense and heavy with matter. Waverly could swear she was feeling its warmth even through the thick material at the waist of her jeans. It was the kind of warmth normally felt internally, like a feeling of contentment or safety. It was a warmth of ‘rightness’ and it was coming from Nicole’s left hand, placed unprompted on Waverly’s left hip as Nicole moved so close behind her body that Waverly almost didn’t have to imagine what Nicole’s breath would feel like, skimming across the base of her neck, or her lips brushing her hairline behind her ear. She lost sight of the dishes sitting in the sink in front of her, the plate in her hand slowly sliding back into the overly sudsy water, the plastic scraper already sunk, sacrificed to the bubbly sea. Nicole’s hand remained, Waverly’s peripheral vision picked up the further movement of Nicole’s body behind her. Waverly’s thoughts continued repeating like a mantra - “ _She’s touching me. She’s touching me._ ” Until, jolted from her reverie, a new thought, new words crowded Waverly’s mind. 

“ _I need this. I need more of this. I need... her._ ”

“Can I stack this here for now?” Nicole asked as her movement behind Waverly brought a now clean and dry cutting board to rest on the counter to their right. She registered the delay in Waverly’s answer immediately, interpreting the pause as an uncomfortable silence. Waverly’s attention seemed to be focussed entirely on the sink but she wasn’t moving, and her breath had slightly hitched.

“ _Oh, shit! What am I doing_?” Nicole thought, realising the strange intimacy of her touch to Waverly’s side. “ _I’m touching her?! When did this happen?”_

_Nicole suddenly registered the body language of their position. “Oh Fuck - she noticed it, she doesn’t like it…_

_Fuuuuuuuuuck!_

_OK Haught, get a hold of yourself, just let go, keep moving along and set the board down._

_Create distance. Distance, yes, you need that RIGHT THE FUCK NOW!_

_I’m so close to her, Oh god, I can smell her shampoo…_

_Don’t think about what it would be like to put both hands on her.... Don’t think about using your hips to push her into the counter... DO NOT think about how it would feel to hear her whimper while leaning back into your touch as you lean down to claim her neck, her jaw, her lips…. Ohhhhhhh, CHRIST_!

_Come on, move it Haught! You’re making her uncomfortable. MOVE YOUR HAND._

_NO! Don’t fucking squeeze your fingers, what are you doing_? 

_Shit she’s looking at you now. Her eyes…..oh god her eyes. Is that a smirk_?

 _Is she….is she ok with this_?

_Ok._

_Ok, wow._

_But…. yep, should probably still move the hand now..._

_NO! Just lift it off! Why’d you let it trail down her leg_?

 _Oh my God, Haught, you’ve got it bad. How are you gonna wait for this woman if you keep doing extremely gay shit like this_?!

 _GET A GRIP!_ ”

As the hand trailed away, Waverly finally spoke before the silence grew. She eyed Nicole sideways, and croaked out, “Erm… sorry, I got lost in my thoughts there for a minute. What did you say?” She pointedly didn’t mention the movement of Nicole’s hand. The slight squeeze and drag as it dropped quickly from her felt like tiny pop-rocks going off over the surface of her skin. She felt its loss, the warmth dissipating immediately from her side. She now felt somehow unbalanced or off-centre without the grounding presence of Nicole’s touch.

Broken from her own arpeggio of thoughts, Nicole replied, “No, no. Th - th - that’s fine… I was just saying, um, I’m just gonna stack the rest here. For now. ‘Kay?” “ _So smooth Haught. Yeah you’re definitely going to get the girl. Jesus.”_

__

“Okay” Waverly replied, another smirk forming at Nicole’s stammering response to her question. She was used to seeing uber-confident Nicole talking up a storm with her subtle and not so subtle flirting. “ _She felt it too_ ”, Waverly thought. “ _Maybe she didn’t mean to touch me but she felt it, felt it’s weight and meaning…_ ” She caught her eyes for a brief second before Nicole dragged them away, looking down at the sodden tea towel, a small blush making its way fleetingly over her cheekbones. “ _Heart eyes. Those were definitely heart eyes._ ” Waverly thought. “ _She’s embarrassed. Unsure if she’s overstepped. I…. I need to sort out what this means. And soon._ ” Waverly turned back to the dishes, the moment being acquisitioned, catalogued and dewey decimalised by her brains curious inner librarian.

__

“Wassup losers!?” Wynonna announced herself, a hurricane of hair, leather and attitude, body flung half way through the door, swinging from an arm on the frame, a half-eaten powdered doughnut clutched in her free hand.

__

“Oh my god, Wynonna. Did you just breeze in from 2002?” declared Nicole masking her jolt with a completely unsubtle and deep roll of her eyes. She was annoyed by Wynonna’s storm of an entrance, the broken moment with Waverly feeling desperately important to her in a way that may have been embarrassing but also very, very welcome and more than a little encouraging

__

“You’ve got….” Waverly’s voice trailed off as she waved her hand in front of her mouth, then on a second look at her sister, expanded the wave to include her nose and hair as she noticed the extent of the doughnut dusts claim to Wynonna’s features. She chanced a look at Nicole then, and they shared a shrug and smile at Wynonna’s expense.

__

“What? Am I particularly on fleek today or something?” Wynonna responded, flicking her hair back as if she had just arrived on the catwalk.

__

Waverly silently lifted up a pot for Wynonna to catch her distorted reflection in. “Ahh, shit. I look like I’ve been to the county fair and ridden doughnut bumper cars all night.” Nicole’s eyes widened in surprise as she desperately tried not to react to Wynonna’s apparently unintended innuendo, but she decided to let it slide lest she be compelled to explain it. Out loud. Right next to Waverly.

__

With both Waverly and Nicole just staring at her, mouths slightly agape, Wynonna decided to cut her losses. “Okay, well I gotta go take care of this babygirl. Have fun playing ‘Really Dull Housewives of Fucking Canada’ or whatever’s going on here. Laters deputy dipshit.” With that, Wynonna shoved the rest of the doughnut in her mouth and flounced away, brushing her leather clad arms up over her face and head.

__

Waverly spoke again first. “You were right.”

__

I’m always right. About what?” Nicole asked, turning her attention back to Waverly.

__

Tilting her head as she gazed out the door towards Wynonna’s rapidly retreating dust storm, Waverly said, “Urban dictionary combined with Wynonna….absolute horror show.”

__

Nicole’s answering grin matched the twinkle in her eye, and was wide enough for her dimples to pop.

__

With a small sigh, Waverly continued quietly, “Sorry about her…I wish she would just call you by your name. And christ, who says ‘wassup’ anymore?”

__

“You know, it’s fine. She’s kinda fun, you know…? Shit. don’t tell her I said that.” Nicole replied, her grin turning quickly into a grimace. 

__

Smiling coyly at Nicole’s response, Waverly caught her deep brown eyes again, and for the briefest of moments, all the feeling of their broken moment returned. “ _Wait for me_ ” thought Waverly, “ _I’m nearly there. Just….wait for me, please_ ” she implored silently.

__

_I’ll wait for you forever if I have to_ ” thought Nicole “ _But I really hope I don’t have to_ ”.

__

Unconsciously echoing both their inner thoughts, Nicole managed to rasp out, “Come on we’re nearly there.” before she could get too wrapped up in the depth of Waverly’s eyes. “Let’s make Lonnie play ‘station mom’ next time, eh?”

__

With a short snort, Waverly quickly retorted, “Yeah, if you wanna spend the day cleaning up smashed glass and crockery.”

__

“Oh, too true!” replied Nicole. “So maybe we should just make this a regular thing then?”

__

Waverly plunged her hands back into the sink, quickly looking away to hide her blush. “Yep, I think you’re right again. We should make this a regular thing...”

__

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I’m new here. I’ve never really written anything before. Not unless you include that story I wrote in school about how my mums eyes got stuck to the TV after watching too much Days of our Lives. So, I’m really nervous about posting this. I’ve not even been reading fan-fic for very long either so I’m still learning my way round Ao3, picking up what the tags mean and generally finding my way through fandoms. Once I happened upon Wynonna Earp and binged watched S1 and 2 (S3 isn’t available in my country yet - Boo!), I was hooked. My brains creative engine, long since dormant, coughed and farted its way back to life. I’ve had three ideas for full fics but I don’t want to write them until I do some practice. So, ‘One Touch’ will hopefully be a little series of one-shots with different character interactions where a single touch sparks some kind of introspection or change in one or more of the characters. I’m really bad at grammar and I don’t even know layout standards. I think I slept through high school English...and it was 23 years ago. Forgive me? Hopefully I can keep the writing up because the bigger story ideas are burning a hole through me right now, begging to be written. They feel like unruly children so the quicker they grow up and leave for college the better!


End file.
